With the popularity of the new show The Last of Us, we decide to take a look at other video games that turned into movies. Some of the movies are great adaptations and well, some … are better video games. Let’s take a look.
The Resident Evil franchise started in 1996 with the first RE game released from Capcom. The video game is described as “a series of grotesque murders occur in the Arklay Mountains outside of Raccoon City in the US Midwest. The police send in the S.T.A.R.S. Bravo Team to investigate, but all contact is lost. Alpha Team arrive in the mountains a while later, but are soon ambushed by a pack of ravenous dog-like creatures. Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine run into a nearby mansion, where they must fight untold horrors to survive.” 1
The Resident Evil movie franchise started in 2002 and starred Milla Jovovich and was directed by Paul W.S. Anderson. It also stars Michelle Rodriguez, Eric Mabius, and James Purefoy. This movie is probably the best movie in the whole franchise (which includes 4 other movies and several other cartoon adaptations).2
The next movie in line is the granddaddy of all arcade fighting games. Yes folks, Mortal Kombat. The first game came out in 1992 and has since developed over 10 MK games. The movie came out with mixed reviews but I believe the fans were just psyched to see something done with the games. Since the first film there has been several other cartoons and other films in the franchise. Imho, the best is to watch the story cutscenes on YouTube. 3
How can anyone forget Doom? First released in 1993, the game was a FPS (first person shooter) that describes the story as, “You’re a marine—one of Earth’s best—recently assigned to the Union Aerospace Corporation (UAC) research facility on Mars. When the UAC’s teleportation gateway between the moons of Phobos and Deimos malfunctioned, something evil was created: a portal to Hell. With the bases overrun by demons and your fellow marines dead; you must shoot your way out to survive.”4 How does one translate this fast action shoot ’em up game to the big screen? Why, with The “Rock” Johnson of course. Rated R for strong violence/gore and language, DOOM crashed into theaters in 2005 and became a bit of a cult classic. This movie reminded me a lot of John Carpenter’s 2001 gem, the Ghosts of Mars, which featured the one and only Ice Cube.
Other video games to movies that were mentioned were: Unchartered, Prince of Persia, Tomb Raider, Silent Hill (my favorite), Hitman, Sonic, Need for Speed, Warcraft and Assassin’s Creed.
If you want to check out any of these movies or video games, come on down to the library!
- “History, Resident Evil Portal.” , https://game.capcom.com/residentevil/en/about-portal.html?tit=one. Accessed 15 February 2023.
- “Resident Evil, Sony Pictures.” , https://www.sonypictures.com/movies/residentevil. Accessed 15 February 2023.
- “https://youtu.be/CdEi4lr4lMQ” . MORTAL KOMBAT 11 Story All Cutscenes Full Movie 2019 [1080p HD] MK11, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdEi4lr4lMQ. Accessed 15 February 2023.
- “Buy DOOM”, https://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/store/doom-1993/9PLZPHBNHTMF. Accessed 17 February 2023.
